Dr. Devendra
Kothari
Population and
Development Analyst
Forum for
Population Action
When Union women
and child development minister Maneka
Gandhi suggested registering the sex of every child in the womb to ensure the
girl child is not killed, she probably did not understand the complex calculus
that Indian would-be parents go through - when to have a child, how many, and
boy or girl. A glimpse into this intriguing decision-making process undertaken
by about 2.5 crore parents every year is provided by Census 2011 data.
Among women who had
only one child, the sex ratio was just 782 girls to every 1,000 boys born. This
is much lower than the overall sex ratio of the population, (943 females for
every 1,000 males), and even lower than the sex ratio for children aged up to
six years (919). But it is not yet the rock bottom. For women who have two
children, the sex ratio plummets to 720 girls for every 1,000 boys. However,
with women who have three children, it improves to 814.
To be concluded..
